According to a U.N. report on global fuel efficiency and motor vehicle emission standards, major countries and regions such as India, China, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Europe, Canada and the U.S. have announced, or are about to announce, major overhauls in their vehicle fuel economy regulations. These standards are quite diverse in their nature, their form, their structure, and their methods of implementation, due to various historic, economic, cultural, and political reasons. They also differ in terms of their implementation requirements, such as mandatory versus voluntary approaches. Some of the areas in which they differ include types of uses for the motor vehicles, vehicle categories, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission thresholds, geographical regions, and the like.
The concept of “eco-driving” generally pertains to the energy-efficient use of vehicles. For example, one goal of eco-driving is to reduce fuel consumption from road transport so that less fuel is used to travel the same distance. In the last few decades, engine technology and automotive performance have improved rapidly, but most drivers have not adapted their driving style to these improvements. Eco-driving represents a driving culture which suits modern engines and makes best use of advanced vehicle technologies. Implementation of an eco-driving paradigm may offer numerous benefits, including GHG emission reductions, fuel cost savings, as well as greater safety and comfort.
There are several stakeholders in the automobile industry, such as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), regulators, vehicle owners, fleet owners, individual drivers, auto dealers, service centers, and insurance companies, each requiring different types of information relating to implementing eco-driving. OEMs require compliance data to be submitted to regulators relating to different classes and brands of vehicles. They also need information on performance of a vehicle or a class of vehicles to facilitate future green-vehicle development. Regulators require access to credible and quality information to support policy formation and monitoring of compliance. Vehicle and fleet owners need to comply with eco-driving practices to optimize the cost of owning a vehicle or a fleet. Individual drivers need feedback on their degree of green driving for self-improvement. Finance and insurance companies require credible and quality information to offer different finance options and interest rates, and to offer differential premiums. Dealers or service centers need information related to vehicle health and driving patterns to offer differential pricing schemes for products and services.
The lack of adequate and reliable information to individual drivers, vehicle owners, and fleet owners prevents them from promoting and practicing eco-driving. Similarly, regulatory bodies lack access to emission information and information on individual driving patterns of a driver for assessment of compliance. OEMs and other stakeholders do not have any effective mechanism to track all these parameters over the lifetime of a vehicle or a class of vehicle. Thus, the development of new vehicle models suitable for a specific place (area, geography-region, country, etc.) becomes practically impossible.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide adequate and reliable information to the various stakeholders such as vehicle owners, drivers, finance and insurance companies, regulators, and OEMs to promote and implement eco-driving.